After
ICP Scoop on
UN Posts Sold,
Independent
Follows Up,
Scribes Not
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
Series
UNITED
NATIONS,
February 16 --
In UN
Peacekeeping
under Herve
Ladsous,
positions in
missions in
the Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
Haiti were
corruptly put
up for sale, a
49-page
“Strictly
Confidential”
UN
investigative
report
obtained and exclusively
published
by Inner City
Press on
February 7
show.
On
February 16
The
Independent followed
up,
crediting
Inner City
Press and
noting that
"there are 36
UN police
officers from
the Ivory
Coast deployed
to the mission
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo and
60 to the
operation in
Haiti."
So how many of
these have
been
repatriated?
And why has
the Cote
d'Ivoire
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
who sold UN
Peacekeeping
posts not been
declared
Persona Non
Grata by the
US, which says
it cares about
peacekeeping
and UN reform?
The UN strip
searched and
PNG-ed Indian
diplomat Khobragade
for an
employment
dispute. Here
an Ivorian
diplomat has
sold posts in
UN
Peacekeeping.
Where's the
PNG?
Tellingly,
after the
Press'
exclusive
February 7
exposure of corruption
in Herve
Ladsous' UN
Peacekeeping,
its asking
about it at
the February 9
UN noon
briefing and
even the UN's
long statement
in spin and
response at
the February
10 noon briefing,
UN insiders
and Ladsous
corruption
enablers like
Reuters
and Agence
France Presse
reported not a
word about the
corruption.
Reuters
has been spoonfed
lines about
Ladsous
MONUSCO refusing
to act against
the FDLR in
the DRC,
which is
passes through
with no
analysis of Ladsous
and MONUSCO's
history,
much less
corruption.
We'll have
more on this.
On February
12, despite
the UN
investigative
report
depicting in
detail Cote
d'Ivoire's
Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Bafetegue
Ouattara
soliciting and
taking bribes
to sell posts
in Ladsous'
MONUSCO and
MINUSTAH
missions,
Inner City
Press ran into
Bafetegue
Ouattara in
the basement
of the UN, by
the garage.
After an
exchange of
words,
including a
demand to know
who leaked the
report to
Inner City
Press (demand
rejected), at
noon Inner
City Press asked, video
here:
Inner
City Press:
the corruption
one is as
follows:
It has to do
with that OIOS
[Office of
Internal
Oversight
Services]
report that
was leaked
showing the
payment of
bribes for
peacekeeping
posts.
I’d asked
Farhan, but I
wanted to ask
you more
because, this
morning, I
actually ran
into the named
deputy
representative
of Côte
d’Ivoire,
Bafetegue
Ouattara, in
the building,
and since this
report, which
began in 2013
and was
finalized in
2014, has
banking
records proof
of the payment
of bribes for
peacekeeping
posts, I just
wondered what
does the UN
do? I
understand
that the
peacekeepers
have been
asked to
return home,
but the person
who solicited
and took
bribes… does
the UN have no
recourse at
all?
Spokesman
Dujarric:
You know, as
you well know…
As you well
know,
diplomats are
sent here by
their
Governments.
We have no
authority over
them. It
is up to
national
Governments to
take action
against these,
against
individuals.
Inner City
Press: Is
there nothing
that a
diplomat could
do even inside
this building
that the UN
would take
action
on? This
was soliciting
bribes for UN
posts.
Spokesman:
As I said,
this person
works for the
Government of
the Côte
d’Ivoire, it
would be up to
them to take
appropriate
action.
So again -
there is
NOTHING that a
diplomat
couldn't do at
the UN? It
cannot be said
that this UN
has zero
tolerance for
corruption -
far from it.
Later on
February 12,
UN
Peacekeeping
chief Ladsous,
who refuses to
answer any
Press
questions, was
hobnobbing
with diplomats
in the
Delegates'
Entrance to
the UN General
Assembly.
We'll have
more on this.
On
February 10
there was a
partial
answer,
video here;
transcript
here,
including
Inner City
Press:
Do you think
that this… the
panel on
peacekeeping
operations
under [José]
Ramos-Horta,
is this the
type of
obviously kind
of hole in the
system that
was exploited
for personal
gain that
should be
reviewed?
Deputy
Spokesman
Haq:
This is a
clear-cut case
of corruption
which was
found by our
Office for
Internal
Oversight
Services, and
we're
following up
on that.
Clearly, quite
a good measure
of the
follow-up also
needs to be
handled by the
Member State
involved.
But there are
many
unresolved
questions;
watch this
site.
Two
days after
that
exclusive, on
February 9
Inner City
Press asked UN
Deputy
Spokesperson
Farhan Haq for
the response
of UN
Peacekeeping,
whose chief
Herve Ladsous
since Inner
City Press
raised
corruption has
refused all
Press
questions,
specifically
what Ladsous
has done in
the ten months
he has been on
notice of this
corruption, as
shown by the
leaked
documents. February 9 video here.
On
February 10,
UN deputy
spokesperson
Haq came to
the noon
briefing with
a prepared
answer, which
he read out. February 10 video here. He said
that further
recruitment of
UN Police for
Cote d'Ivoire
has been
suspended
pending that
country taking
action.
Inner
City Press
asked if all
ten police
described as
paying bribes
have been
repatriated,
for the status
of the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
Ouattara shown
taking bribes,
and if
inquiries have
been made with
other
countries
which send
soldiers or
police to the
UN.
Haq
said that the
ten have left
or are in the
process of
leaving. Six
months after
the final
report? "In
the process of
leaving"?
Worse,
Haq said it is
up to Cote
d'Ivoire if
the Deputy
Permanent
Representative
remains in his
post at and in
the UN. Isn't
collective
bribes for UN
posts a crime?
And not only
in Cote
d'Ivoire?
Inner
City Press
asked Haq if
this obvious
loophole
allowing
corruption
will be
reviewed by
Ban Ki-moon's
panel of Peace
Operations, to
which Inner
City Press has
already
forwarded the
OIOS report. Video here.
Another
question that
has been
raised to
Inner City
Press by
diplomats
after reading
the exclusive
is whether
Ladsous had a
duty, at least
before the UN
Security
Council's trip
to Haiti last
month led by
Chile and the
US to tell
Council
members that
bribes had
been collected
for positions
in the
MINUSTAH
mission there.
Inner
City Press has
raised the
question to
MINUSTAH's
chief and
spokesperson,
as to DR Congo
mission
MONUSCO's
chief Martin
Kobler, separate
story here (as
Kobler runs to
be Ladsous'
peer atop UN
aid agency
OCHA.)
Haq
told Inner
City Press
that "this was
corruption
found by our
own internal
oversight."
But the report
says the UN's
OIOS
"received"
information
about these
possibly
corrupt
practices on
July 24, 2013.
We'll have
more on this.
, 
